Help with damsel

[windcoast reefs]

Hey everyone,

I have started a damsel tank and my blue devil has been acting weird. After I feed him he will turn on his side very quickly and then flip back. He still has all his color and is eating fine, so is this just some weird thing that he does or is it a sign of something else?

[Youngster Dan]

Does he do this against rocks? Almost as if he is scratching himself?

[windcoast reefs]

Yeah, he does that every once and a while. But it is mainly just when he is eating, he will kinda twitch and roll on his side.

[Northernseacorals]

If the little fella is putting himself on the rock to scratch every so often, it's a safe bet to say he is infected with ich.

Time to set up a hospital tank, There are only two proven ways to cure a saltwater of Ich, copper and hyposalinity.*Neither treatments can be used in the main display aquarium if there are*invertebrates*present, so the treatment must be used in a quarantine tank.

Hyposalinity is the preferred treatment among the online reef forums because it is not as dangerous to the fish and it is thought to ease osmotic stress on the fish. Hyposalinity is adjusting the salinity of your aquarium’s water to a specific gravity of 1.010 to treat Ich.* Hypo means under or below, hence lowering your salinity below normal levels.* Hyposalinity should be in a quarantine tank with all your fish in it, lowering the specific gravity by doing water changes every 12-24 hours with less salt. Once the salinity of 1.010 is achieved then the water should be maintained with this specific gravity for 6 weeks.

Copper treatment is toxic to fish and invertebrates every reefer should now that copper and a reef tank do not mix. If you should choose to use copper treatment make sure that you use a quarantine tank and label the tank copper so you do not use the tank in the future for anything other than quarantine.

When using copper make sure you are testing it with a copper test kit that is the same as the copper treatment you are using. As of right now there are two typs of copper treatment that are used they are chelated copper and ionic copper.* Copper binds to any calcium carbonate so it should be used in a bare bottom tank only.

There are other treatments such as Uv lights, Diatom filters and raising temperatures but none are as effective when combating marine Ich as hyposalinity in my humble opinion.

Good luck !

[windcoast reefs]

Okay, well it looks like something new to fix! lol

[Northernseacorals]

Okay, well it looks like something new to fix! lol

Sorry I did forget to mention, it will be a good idea to not add any new fish to your main display aquarium for the full six weeks, this will starve the ich that could possibly be living in the sand bed while the tank is fish free.

So if you are in the LFS and are feeling like picking up a new tank mate until the damsels are all better from the hospital tank; you will know it's a good plan to hold back :wink:

[marie]

Do you feed him flake food that stays on the surface by any chance? My first clown fish I ever owned would do that if she ate flakes off the surface....I think she would take in air as well as food making her belly want to float :mrgreen:

[globaldesigns]

If the little fella is putting himself on the rock to scratch every so often, it's a safe bet to say he is infected with ich.

Time to set up a hospital tank, There are only two proven ways to cure a saltwater of Ich, copper and hyposalinity.*Neither treatments can be used in the main display aquarium if there are*invertebrates*present, so the treatment must be used in a quarantine tank.

Hyposalinity is the preferred treatment among the online reef forums because it is not as dangerous to the fish and it is thought to ease osmotic stress on the fish. Hyposalinity is adjusting the salinity of your aquarium’s water to a specific gravity of 1.010 to treat Ich.* Hypo means under or below, hence lowering your salinity below normal levels.* Hyposalinity should be in a quarantine tank with all your fish in it, lowering the specific gravity by doing water changes every 12-24 hours with less salt. Once the salinity of 1.010 is achieved then the water should be maintained with this specific gravity for 6 weeks.

Copper treatment is toxic to fish and invertebrates every reefer should now that copper and a reef tank do not mix. If you should choose to use copper treatment make sure that you use a quarantine tank and label the tank copper so you do not use the tank in the future for anything other than quarantine.

When using copper make sure you are testing it with a copper test kit that is the same as the copper treatment you are using. As of right now there are two typs of copper treatment that are used they are chelated copper and ionic copper.* Copper binds to any calcium carbonate so it should be used in a bare bottom tank only.

There are other treatments such as Uv lights, Diatom filters and raising temperatures but none are as effective when combating marine Ich as hyposalinity in my humble opinion.

Good luck !

IMO, I think you are jumping the gun in giving this advice. Reason is that I have a Sohal Tang that scratches himself on rock and on the sandbed, he has done it almost everyday for the last 2 years I had him. One thing to note here is that he has never had displayed symptons of ICH, and is a my prize fish.

Maybe sometimes a fish can be quirky. I would not just say it has ich and start treating.... Just don't do it. Also if there is ICH, I am not a believer of treatment. A healthy fish and tank will heal without copper, hypo or quarantining.

just my 2 cents.

[Northernseacorals]

IMO, I think you are jumping the gun in giving this advice.

Better to be safe than sorry, no harm in playing it safe.

Just me 98 cents,

[windcoast reefs]

Well I think I will wait it out and see what happens in the next week or so. Thanks for all your help.

[reefwars]

would have to agree with globaldesigns to put all your fish in quarantine now without any visible signs of any thing bad would only add stress if you wanted to play it safe just observe him if it is ich watch for white spots theyll show.

if you have to put your fish in quarantine you can drop the salinity quite fast its raising the salinity that has to be done gradually.

i do like hyposalinity but you really need to do it carefully in order to not make your fish stressed out.....stressed out fish hide and dont eat therefore cant fight off the attack.its never wise to treat your fish or tank in any way without knowing what the problem is.

pics of the fish close up helps also:):)cheers:)

[Youngster Dan]

What you do really depends on your fish keeping philosophy.

It is likely your fish has ich, and it is likely many fish in most systems also have ich. If the fish is stressed, or the water parameters are off then the ich can really take hold and become a lethal problem.

If you want to get rid of the ich, (as suggested previously) you have to take drastic actions to eradicate the ich from both the fish and the system. This includes leaving your tank fallow for 6-8 weeks, and treating your fish in a QT with either hyposalinity or copper. If you go this route, it would be absolutely silly not to quarantine your future additions as you worked hard to get rid of the stuff in the first place.

If the fish is eating well, and is not bullied by other fish it will probably be able to fight the ich to a manageable level just fine on its own. The ich is still in the system, and will probably continue to stay there for as long as you own the tank.

So it really depends on what your philosophy is, and how much effort you want to put into it. For the sake of a small damsel tank, I would just leave it be and continue to keep an eye on it. If it were a large system where you plan on putting thousands of dollars of sensitive fish into it, I would advise differently.

[marie]

How did the conversation get to ich anyway. The symptoms were, the fish tips over after eating and then shakes himself back upright :lol:

[Northernseacorals]

Does he do this against rocks? Almost as if he is scratching himself?

Yeah, he does that every once and a while. But it is mainly just when he is eating, he will kinda twitch and roll on his side.

How did the conversation get to ich anyway. The symptoms were, the fish tips over after eating and then shakes himself back upright :lol:

You missed one symptom when the OP said the fish also rubbed himself on rocks once in a while. :wink:

[windcoast reefs]

Okay, Im pretty sure he doesn't have itch. He really doesn't have any of the physical symptoms (white dots) . I think it is just a weird thing he does when he eats. I have only seen him rub up against a rock twice. I will put then in another tank for the time being. Should I just set up a small five or ten gallon tank as a hospital tank? Should I be running skimmer and powerheads as well?

[windcoast reefs]

I will put up some picks tonight.

[marie]

I really wouldn't worry about it if I were you. Fish flash/scratch occasionally for no obvious reason.
As long as the fish is eating normally and looks healthy then I would just chalk it up to one of those weird things that fish do

[windcoast reefs]

Yup he eats like a pig and otherwise seems normal, for a fish at least.